Web Design · Des Moines, IA
Des Moines web design that books storm-season jobs instead of just looking nice
Des Moines Web Design Company
When hail crosses Des Moines, a hundred homeowners hunt for a roofer in the same afternoon. The contractor with a fast, clear, mobile-friendly site catches that wave. The one with a slow, confusing site loses it. We build sites engineered to convert, not brochures that sit quietly while the season passes.
- Built for the trades
- Neighborhood-by-neighborhood targeting
- No lock-in contracts
I'll be straight with you: I started OnwardCraft because I kept watching good contractors hand Angi and HomeAdvisor a few grand a month for leads that three of their competitors bought too. You can't build a business on rented leads. In Des Moines, where half the roofing calls land in the two weeks after a hailstorm, being invisible when the storm hits means you simply do not get those jobs. So that's the whole point of what we do here — get you ranking and converting for the work you actually want, in the West Des Moines and Ankeny neighborhoods you actually serve, and let those leads belong to you. No 12-month handcuffs. If it's not working, you fire us.
Most Des Moines contractor websites leak leads without anyone noticing: slow on a phone, no clear call to action, nothing that signals you are the right person for the job. In a market where demand jumps after a storm and homeowners in Ankeny and Waukee decide fast on their phones, a site that does not convert immediately is quietly costing you work. We build fast, professional, mobile-first sites that turn visitors into booked jobs, and that are ready to rank when hail season comes.
What makes a good contractor website in Des Moines?
A good Des Moines contractor website loads in under three seconds on a phone, puts the call button and a clear offer above the fold, proves trust with real reviews and project photos, and names the specific suburbs you serve: Ankeny, Waukee, Johnston, West Des Moines. Because homeowners here often search on mobile during or right after a weather event, speed and an obvious next step are what separate a site that books the storm job from one that hands it to whoever answers faster.
The Des Moines market
What ranking in Des Moines really hinges on
Des Moines is a mid-size metro of roughly 700,000 people, and the thing outsiders miss is how white-collar the money is. Principal Financial, Nationwide, EMC, Wells Fargo, and a long list of insurers run major operations here, which makes this one of the most insurance-dense labor markets in the country. That shapes how people buy a contractor. Homeowners here have filed claims, they know the process, and they expect you to talk it through like a pro before they hand you the job. The other force is growth. West Des Moines, Ankeny, and Waukee keep landing on national lists of the fastest-growing suburbs, pulling in young finance and tech professionals who came for affordable housing and search for every service on their phone. Then weather sets the tempo. Spring brings the hail and wind that fill every roofer's voicemail in a single afternoon, and Iowa winters bring the freeze-thaw cracking, frozen pipes, and furnace failures that push urgent calls through December and January. The Des Moines River has flooded this town more than once, so basement and water-damage work spikes too. Put it together and you have a value-driven buyer who researches hard, a market that rewards whoever is already ranking when demand hits, and very little patience for a contractor who shows up late.
A Des Moines homeowner has filed a claim before and will research you cold. Win the Map Pack before the spring hail, or you are negotiating from page two.
- Homeowners · 58%
- Renters · 42%
The real problem
Why your current site isn't bringing in work
It's a brochure, not a lead engine
Plenty of contractor sites just list services with no clear offer and no reason to call over the next result. In Des Moines that gets amplified during demand jumps: a homeowner searching for help after a hailstorm is deciding fast. If your site has no clear, immediate call to action, they are on to the next name before they ever reach your services page.
It's slow on the phone when it matters most
Storm searches happen on mobile, often while a homeowner stands in the driveway staring at the damage. If your site takes more than a few seconds to load, they are gone. Slow sites also rank worse in mobile search, which doubles the loss. We build fast, so you keep the visitor and the ranking.
It doesn't speak to the suburbs where you work
A homeowner in Ankeny wants to see that you serve Ankeny. A Waukee homeowner wants the same. A generic 'Des Moines contractor' page reads like everyone else. We build sites that name the specific suburbs and communities you cover, so visitors trust that you are local and Google ranks you for neighborhood-level searches.
What we do
What's in an OnwardCraft Des Moines website
Custom design
No cookie-cutter templates. A site designed around your trade, your service area, and the jobs you want more of across Des Moines and its suburbs.
Mobile-first build
Designed for the phone first, because that is where storm-season and emergency searches happen. Fast load, easy to call from, thumb-friendly forms.
Conversion-focused UX
Clear offers, prominent call buttons, and lead forms placed where they actually get used. Every page carries one job: get the visitor to contact you.
Copy that sells
Words that speak to an anxious Des Moines homeowner and book the job, not filler text that reads like every other about page in town.
Local SEO foundation
Built from the ground up to rank: clean structure, schema, fast load, and suburb-ready pages so Google knows exactly where you work.
Speed and Core Web Vitals
Tuned to load fast and pass Google's performance checks, which protects both conversions and rankings during high-demand stretches.
Suburb-targeted pages
Pages built around the communities you serve, from Ankeny to Waukee to Johnston to West Des Moines, so you stand out and rank for neighborhood searches instead of blending into a generic city page.
AI-search ready
Structured so AI Overviews and ChatGPT can read your site and recommend your business as more local search shifts toward AI.
How we work
How we build: the OnwardCraft process
- 1
Discovery and strategy
We learn your trade, your service area, your best jobs, and your competitors, then map the site around booking more of the work you want across the Des Moines metro.
- 2
Design
We lay out a custom, mobile-first design built to convert the storm-season visitor. You see it and steer it before a single line of code gets written.
- 3
Build and copy
We build it fast and write the copy that sells, with your call to action front and center on every page and suburb pages that actually rank.
- 4
Launch
We launch cleanly with the SEO foundation, tracking, and speed dialed in from day one, so you are ready when demand jumps.
- 5
Support and optimize
We keep it fast and current and tune it on what is actually converting across your service area.
The honest math
We're a new shop, so here's the honest math instead of a logo wall
A lot of agencies open with a grid of client logos. We are a young, founder-led shop, so we will not invent a track record we have not earned yet. What we can give you is the reasoning, pulled straight from Google's and the industry's own research on how people actually search for a local contractor.
Here is a rough sketch, clearly marked as a projection and not a result we are claiming: a Des Moines roofer stuck on page two during a spring hail event is invisible through the single biggest demand week of the year. Climbing out of page-two obscurity into the top three Map Pack spots before April is the gap between a booked-solid spring and watching the work go to whoever ranked above you. In your free audit we model the real numbers for your shop: your current rankings, your search volume by season, and an honest 90-to-180-day path.
Figures above are published benchmarks (Google / BrightLocal) and an illustrative projection. They are not past results claimed by OnwardCraft.
Transparent pricing
Transparent Des Moines web design pricing
A one-time build, billed 50% up front and 50% at launch. You own everything, with no lock-in.
Starter Site
A tight, high-converting site for a single-trade Des Moines contractor.
- Up to 5 custom pages
- Mobile-first design
- Lead forms + call buttons
- Local SEO foundation
- You own the site
Growth Site
A larger site for established shops running several services or suburbs.
- Up to 12 pages
- Custom design + copywriting
- Service + suburb pages
- Speed and Core Web Vitals
- Suburb-targeted pages (Ankeny, Waukee, Johnston)
Custom Build
A fully custom build for multi-service or multi-location Des Moines businesses.
- Fully custom design
- Advanced SEO + schema
- Integrations and booking
- High-traffic performance
- AI-search optimization
Why us
Why Des Moines businesses pick OnwardCraft
We build for storm-season timing
Roofing and restoration demand in Des Moines does not ramp up gently. It jumps the afternoon a hailstorm crosses the metro. We rank you for the terms homeowners type during those windows and make sure you are already on the map before April, so you are catching the wave instead of chasing it.
We get you off rented leads
The aim is a pipeline that belongs to you. Not a recurring invoice to a broker who sold the same hail-damaged homeowner to four contractors and charged every one of you to fight over the call.
We actually know the Des Moines metro
Ankeny and Waukee are booming with new builds and first-time buyers who research everything online. Beaverdale and Sherman Hill are older neighborhoods with character homes and real repair needs. West Des Moines and Johnston carry the professional incomes that fund bigger projects. We build your local SEO around those differences, not a city-name swap on a national template.
No contracts, no mystery
Prices are posted, reporting maps to actual leads, and you go month-to-month after the first 90 days. If we are not earning it, you leave. That keeps the pressure exactly where it should sit: on us.
Des Moines Web Design FAQ
Questions Des Moines owners ask us
How much does a website cost in Des Moines?
Most contractor websites with us run $2,000 to $8,000 as a one-time build, depending on page count and integrations. The tiers are above: fixed price, no surprises, and you own the finished site.
How long does it take to build?
A focused site takes about 2 to 4 weeks; a larger custom build takes 4 to 8. We hand you a firm timeline up front and keep you posted through each stage.
Will my site help me capture storm-season demand?
That is a big part of why we build the way we do. Mobile-first, fast-loading, with a clear call to action, because when a Des Moines homeowner is hunting for a roofer right after a hailstorm, they are on their phone and deciding fast. A site that is slow or unclear loses them instantly.
Will my new site actually rank on Google?
We build every site on a local SEO foundation: fast load, clean structure, schema, and suburb-ready pages. The build gets you ready to rank, and pairing it with our SEO service is how you climb the competitive Des Moines terms.
Do I own the website?
Yes, all of it: the site, the domain, and the content. There is no hostage situation and no locked platform you cannot move off later if you choose.
Will it work well on phones?
We design mobile-first, because that is where storm searches and emergency calls happen. Fast load, easy-to-tap call buttons, and forms built for a thumb while standing in a driveway.
What platform do you build on?
We match the platform to your needs and to what you can run without us looking over your shoulder, usually WordPress or Webflow. We name the right fit in your free consult and walk through the tradeoffs in plain English.
Do you offer ongoing support?
Yes. Launch support comes with every build, and after that we offer affordable monthly maintenance covering updates, speed, and security so the site stays sharp through each Des Moines season.
Am I locked into a contract?
No. The build is a one-time, fixed-price project. Any maintenance or SEO you add afterward stays month-to-month, so you are free to leave whenever it suits you.
What do I get in the free quote?
A clear look at what your current site is costing you in lost leads, what a high-converting Des Moines contractor site should include, and a fixed-price quote with a timeline. It is Des Moines web design that converts visitors into booked jobs, mobile-first and fast-loading from day one. No pressure, just a plan.
Who we serve
The trades we build for in Des Moines
We do not work with restaurants, startups, or law firms. Every site, campaign, and lead system is tuned to how home-service contractors actually win work in Des Moines.
Roofing
Insurance-claim homeowners and storm work, captured the moment they search.
HVAC
Win the July and January emergency calls, then stay booked in spring and fall.
Plumbing
Own the 2am burst-pipe search with map-pack rankings and a site that converts.
Solar
Lower lead costs with education-led content that closes the long solar sale.
Electrical
Panel upgrades to EV chargers, framed to win safety-sensitive work.
Restoration
Capture urgent water and fire searches and the insurance referrals behind them.
Areas we serve
Web Design across Des Moines
More Des Moines services